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First published in UK 2008 by Hodder Education, an Hachette UK Company, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH.Start Portuguese Copyright 2008, 2011, Thomas Keymaster Languages LLC, all rights reserved; in the content, Virginia Catmur.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher or under licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Further details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, UK.

Typeset by Transet Limited, Coventry, England. Printed in Great Britain Impression 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Year 2014 2013 2012 2011 ISBN 978 1444 13913 6

Welcome to the Michel Thomas MethodCongratulations on purchasing the truly remarkable way to learn a language. With the Michel Thomas Method theres no reading, no writing and no homework. Just sit back, absorb, and soon youll be speaking another language with confidence.

The Michel Thomas Method works by breaking a language down into its component parts and enabling you to reconstruct the language yourself to form your own sentences and to say what you want, when you want. By learning the language in small steps, you can build it up yourself to produce ever more complicated sentences.

Perfected over 25 years, the all-audio Michel Thomas Method has been used by millions of people around the world.

Now its your turn.

To get started, simply insert the CD and press play!

1

2 About Michel ThomasMichel Thomas (19142005) was a gifted linguist who mastered more than ten languages in his lifetime and became famous for teaching much of Hollywoods A list how to speak a foreign language. Film stars such as Woody Allen, Emma Thompson and Barbra Streisand paid thousands of dollars each for face-to-face lessons.

Michel, a Polish Jew, developed his method after discovering the untapped potential of the human mind during his traumatic wartime experiences. The only way he survived this period of his life, which included being captured by the Gestapo, was by concentrating and placing his mind beyond the physical. Fascinated by this experience, he was determined that after the war he would devote himself to exploring further the power of the human mind, and so dedicated his life to education.

In 1947, he moved to Los Angeles and set up the Michel Thomas Language Centers, from where he taught languages for over fifty years in New York, Beverly Hills and London.

Michel Thomas died at his home in New York City on Saturday 8th January 2005. He was 90 years old.

3Start Portuguese index

CD1 Track 1

Introduction

CD1 Track 2

Words ending in -ible and -able in English (e.g. possible, probable) are similar in Portuguese. The Portuguese ending is -vel or -vel, with the stress on the or : possible = possvel. The unstressed o sounds almost like the English oo.

Pronunciation of rr: horrvel = horrible; terrvel = terrible

confortvel = comfortable; provvel = probable; aceitvel = acceptable

= is or it is

CD1 Track 3

para = for as in for me; unstressed a sounds like the a in the English name Linda

para mim = for me. The m at the end of a word indicates that it is a nasal sound (pronounced through the nose).

o senhor = you (speaking to a man); a senhora = you (speaking to a woman). (There is a less formal form voc, but you need to know when it is appropriate to use it; we will use o senhor / a senhora in this course.)

CD1 Track 4

no not and no ( is also a nasal sound). No goes before to mean not it is = it is not: no possvel not it is possible = it is not possible.

To ask a question, just raise your voice at the end: possvel? = It is possible? = Is it possible?

4 CD1 Track 5

porque? (literally for what?) = Why? Portuguese-speakers often add que = is it that after a question word: Porque que no aceitvel para o senhor? = For what is it that not it is acceptable for you? = Why isnt it acceptable for you?

assim = like that, that way

CD1 Track 6

lamento, literally I lament = Im sorry the o at the end of lamento indicates the verb ending for I. eu = I, but you only need to use this if you want to emphasise who is doing the action.

desculpe = excuse (me)

mas = but. The final -s will sound differently depending on what follows it. It sounds like the s of the English measure when the following word starts with a consonant (e.g. mas no = but it is not).

sim = yes

Words ending in -ent and -ant in English (e.g. different, important) are similar in Portuguese. The Portuguese ending is -ente or -ante. Portuguese words only have one stressed syllable per word. Words ending in a vowel are usually stressed on the syllable before last, so on the a of importante: importante = important.

diferente = different

restaurante = restaurant. The s here sounds like the English sh because its in front of t.

Pronunciation of an unstressed e: skate over it.

CD1 Track 7

bom (masculine thing), boa (feminine thing) = good

muito = very

Pronunciation of s: the s of mas sounds like English z when the following word starts with a vowel (e.g. mas = but it is).

tenho = I have

5Pronunciation of nh: sounds like English ny.

tenho-o = I have it; quero-o = I want it

agora = now

Position of it in the negative: no o tenho = not it I have = I dont have it.

constante = constant; evidente = evident; urgente = urgent: pronunciation of g and ur.

CD1 Track 8

porque = because

tem = you have

o que (literally the what) = what. In this case also, Portuguese-speakers often add que: O que que tem? = The what is it that you have? = What do you have?

o used for masculine things; a for feminine things; o / a = both the and it

tem-no = you have it. When you add it to you have you add an n to o / a to make it easier to say after the nasal sound of tem: tem-no / tem-na.

Position of it with porque: before verb (like with no and question words): porque (eu) o / a quero = because (I) it I want = because I want it; Porque ( que) o / a tem? = Why (is it that) it you have? = Why do you have it?

CD1 Track 9

quer = you want. To make it easier to say, an e is added at the end in you want it = quere-o / a, but you skate over it.

CD1 Track 10

saber = to know. In Portuguese, the to form, the whole verb, ends in r and, therefore, is always stressed on the ending.

quero saber = I want to know; no quero saber = not I want to know = I dont want to know

posso = I can

pode = you can. Pronunciation: stress the o, skate over the e.

6In Portuguese, the stress in the present tense is on the syllable before last.

fazer = to do; o que posso fazer? = The what I can to do? = What can I do?

CD1 Track 11

hoje = today

algo = something

CD1 Track 12

comer = to eat. Pronunciation of the r.

tenho fome = I have hunger = I am hungry; tem fome = you are hungry

Pronunciation of the o: when stressed should sound like the o of English not, and when not stressed should sound almost like the English oo, as in food.

CD2 Track 1

English words ending in -ary end in -rio in Portuguese: necessary = necessrio; contrary = contrrio; vocabulary = vocabulrio. Portuguese u sounds like English oo, not like yew.

preciso de (literally I precise of ) = I need. With preciso de, if you want to say I need it, the it will not be o / a but dele (for a masculine thing) and dela (for a feminine thing). Dele / dela = de (of ) + ele / ela (he / she or it).

no preciso dele = I dont need it. Although we have no, it doesnt go before the verb, because the Portuguese is need of it.

e = and

CD2 Track 2

ver = to see

7v-lo / v-la = to see it. When you attach the it to the to form of the verb, it drops the final r and the o / a turns into lo / la to make it easier to say.

no o quero ver (= not it I want to see) means the same as no quero v-lo = not I want to see it = I dont want to see it. If there are two or more consecutive verbs in a sentence, the second and subsequent verbs will be in the full form (the to form in English): quero ver = I want to see.

faz-lo / faz-la = to do it

CD2 Track 3

Words in English ending in -ence and -ance end in -ncia (-ena) and -ncia in Portuguese: influence = influncia; preference = preferncia; difference = diferena; importance = importncia.

Most words ending with the letter -a are feminine and most words ending with the letter -o are masculine.

a diferena = the difference; uma diferena = a difference

que = what: Que preferncia tem? = What preference do you have? Tem preferncia? = Do you have a preference? (no a in Portuguese)

por que = for what: Por que restaurante tem preferncia? = For what restaurant do you have a preference?

esta noite = this night = tonight

CD2 Track 4

onde = where

jantar = to dine = to have dinner

Words ending in -tion in English end in -o in Portuguese: condition = condio; nation = nao; situation = situao; organization = organizao. The of -o sounds like s, not k. The -o ending is always stressed in Portuguese.

Pronunciation: single -s- between two vowels sounds like a z: posio = position

8One English -tion word that does not end in -o in Portuguese: reservation = reserva

For feminine things: a = the; uma = a; for masculine things: o = the; um = a

CD2 Track 5de = of ; do / da = of the, from = de (of ) + o / a (= the): da reserva = of the reservation. For the plural just add s.

dum / duma = de (of ) + um / uma (= a) = of a: duma reserva = of a reservation. When you add s to make the plural, the sense is some.

confirmao = confirmation: Pronunciation of ir: pronounce the i and the r separately. ir in Portuguese does not sound like ir in English.

tipo = kind / type: que tipo de = what type of

CD2 Track 6There are some -tion words that end in -o but are slightly different from the English: translation = traduo; explanation = explicao. Most words that end in -ion in English and in -o in Portuguese are feminine words, for which the is a.

Polite requests: pode? = can you? = will you?: Pode fazer uma traduo para mim? = You can to do a translation for me? = Will you do a translation for me?

por favor = for favour = please

Pronunciation of x.

dar = to give

CD2 Track 7Verbs that come from nouns that are similar in English and Portuguese (e.g. formation = formao) will also be similar in the two languages. To make the verb in Portuguese, you just add -ar to the English verb: to form = formar; to confirm = confirmar.

The whole form of a verb, the infinitive, is expressed with to in English (for example, to eat). In Portuguese, it is expressed in an ending. There

9are four endings: -ar (falar = to speak), -er (comer = to eat), -ir (sair = to leave / to go out) and -or (pr = to put).

impresso = impression

CD2 Track 8aqui = here. Like assim, aqui is stressed in the last syllable because Portuguese words with i or u in the last syllable are stressed on that last syllable. Words ending in -l are also stressed on the last syllable: Portugal; Brasil; Funchal; Miguel.

Words that end in -r, -l, -i or have i or u in the last syllable and are not stressed on that last syllable have a written accent to show where the stress goes: possvel; provvel.

Pronunciation of ss: like English s.

Plural of it: os / as = them; v-los / v-las = to see them

o (masculine) and a (feminine) not only means the and it in English but also can be used to refer to o senhor / a senhora. So, to see you (you = o senhor / a senhora) is v-lo / v-la. For the plural just add s.

me = me: ver-me = to see me

CD2 Track 9compreender = to understand

dizer = to say, to tell

lhe (same form for masculine and feminine) = (to) you: dizer-lhe = to tell you

Pronunciation of lh: similar to English y

pode dizer-me and pode me dizer (= will you tell me) are both correct; the second is more common.

CD2 Track 10

isto = this (in general)

comprar = to buy

ppp

Heres what people say about Michel Thomas:This guy is one of my heroes.

What a legend. I love his method.

Defi nitely the best way to learn.

Just after a couple of days Im confi dent that I will be able to speak directly.

Its the best way to learn a foreign language.

Totally life changing.

The Michel Thomas course is much the easiest to make progress with.

Hes the best.

A truly inspirational way to learn a language.

With Michel you learn a language effortlessly.

The nearest thing to painless learning.

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Millions of people worldwide speakPortuguese thanks to the Michel Thomas Method.